Hospital panic over unconscious man's 'do not resuscitate' tattoo
Source: NZ Herald
2 Dec, 2017 8:32am
A man's 'do not resuscitate' tattoo forced Miami emergency doctors to confront the ethical conflict between a patient's wishes and a doctor's duty.
The 70-year-old man was unconscious and presumably drunk, given his elevated blood-alcohol level, when paramedics brought him to the emergency room, the Daily Mail reports.
His pulse slowed to a worrying rate, and the doctors decided to try to save him any way, but were getting no responses, according to a case study published in the New England Journal of Medicine.
After consulting with ethicists, the doctors decided to respect the man's tattoo, but the quandary made them aware of the need for an updated system of tracking patients' end of life wishes.
Read more: http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=11951788
Corvo Bianco
(1,148 posts)Meanwhile the guy is dying
MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)If made one way. And the course uncertain.
Then chose the other way.
This is Judaism 101.
paleotn
(17,989 posts)marble falls
(57,355 posts)left-of-center2012
(34,195 posts)Once had an elderly patient (80's?) with that tattooed on her upper thigh.
marble falls
(57,355 posts)Interesting read.
Aristus
(66,478 posts)But next time, put it in a legal document, not a tattoo...
sl8
(13,949 posts)Last edited Fri Dec 1, 2017, 11:57 PM - Edit history (1)
But that brings up a good question - what does the provider do if they don't have immediate access to the patients medical record or other documentation? Would they abide by a patient's bracelet or wallet card?
paleotn
(17,989 posts)Tattoo? Under no circumstances. After all, the verdict for letting someone die in error is far worse than keeping someone alive in error.
hibbing
(10,110 posts)Liberalagogo
(1,770 posts)The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)or the docs don't find it, they are not bound by it. I've heard of doctors wearing "NO CODE" medallions, and also of tattoos like this one. IMO they should always be respected. The ethicists are right, but the law says otherwise.
I'm speaking as a man whose wife signed a DNR in the months before she was granted a medically assisted death in September. We had the legal niceties of a DNR explained to us very carefully. We were advised to pin it to the wall beside the door so I could grab it if she was ever taken to the hospital. We were also advised to put a big bold sign above it, saying "Do Not Resucitate" with an arrow pointing to the document itself - in case EMTs arrived and I wasn't there.
sl8
(13,949 posts)dembotoz
(16,864 posts)DBoon
(22,403 posts)"If found unconscious, administer bourbon"?
flotsam
(3,268 posts)...He also had cancer. I can't picture a no code tattoo being a mistake.
The_jackalope
(1,660 posts)Cold War Spook
(1,279 posts)When the first one dies, there will be a very quiet ceremony in the back yard. Keep those social security checks coming. No joke.
pintobean
(18,101 posts)our kids, and grand-kids?
Nice.
Sancho
(9,070 posts)just saying.
tenderfoot
(8,438 posts)It's there for a reason.